Supernova that destroys planet, illustration. A rocky planet stands in the wake of his star, who has … [+]
A complete recording of mass stars in our part of the Galaxy Milky Way has found a noticeable link between the essential collapse supernova scale and at least two of the last five mass extincts here on Earth. Or so says a new letter that appears in the journal Monthly notifications of royal astronomical society.
A team led by Keele University in the United Kingdom used data from GAIA satellite of the European Gaia Agency to characterize and design about 24,706 O- and B-Spectral stars at distances of about 3200 years. These stars are responsible for the type of supernova of the essential collapse that the terrestrial planets of their atmospheric ozone can crash, create acid rain and leave their surfaces exposed to harmful ultraviolet radiation.
Two extinction events are specifically associated with periods of intense glaciers, the authors notice. Such glaciers could have been driven by dramatic landing of atmospheric ozone levels due to a supernova of the Earth’s essential collapse. Thus, the team concluded that the events of the late Devonian and Late Ordovician, which respectively took place about 372 and 445 million years ago, were possible caused by such ancient supernova.
Previous studies were preceded by Gaia, and therefore we were able to issue a more accurate rate, Alexis Quintana, the main author of the newspaper and a post -documentary researcher at
Astrophysics and astronomy at the University of Alicante, Spain, tells me by email. The “near land” scale we found was more stable with the duration of historical events of mass extinction, he says.
We have counted a supernova supernova rate Core land near the land that will result in approximately 2.5 supernova for a billion years, the authors write. This supports the view that the nearby Supernova explosions could have caused one or more recorded events of the massive land extinction, they notice.
A tough trip
Ordvician disappearance killed 60 percent of marine invertebrates at a time when life was largely limited to the sea, notes the royal astronomical society. The late Devonian disappearance was even worse, erating about 70 percent of all Earth species, says Ras.
How did the team make their calculations?
They first calculated the supernova rate within about 65 years of our sunlight, then compared this rate to the approximate degree of mass extinction events here on Earth that were previously attributed to nearby supernovas, says Ras.
We estimated that the supernova norms in the solar vicinity, or approximately 60 light years away, were in accordance with an outbreak of supernova creating one or more of the recorded mass extinction events on Earth, says Quintana.
What is more surprising?
Our results reduced the level of supernova compared to previous work, which was once two to three times higher, Nick Wright, one of the co -author of paper and an astrophysicist at Keele University in the United Kingdom, tells me by email. This was undoubtedly not in line with the degree of mass disappearances on Earth, but our new appreciation brings these numbers to better deal that makes the link more likely, Wright tells me.
What else is there?
We aim to expand the O and B stars registration beyond this current limit, taking advantage of the exquisite accuracy of Gaia’s data, says Quintana.
How about when the Milky Way can wait for its crash crash supernova?
One of the most popular candidates is Betelgeuse, located in the Orion constellation (about 650 light years away), says Quintana. While at a late stage of her life, it can still take up to 100,000 years to explode, he says.
The good news is that the land is not currently at risk of a extinction level supernova.
There is no known massive star set so close that a supernova explosion can be life threatening, says Quintana. And given the durations we found by doing this research, it is certain to assume that such an event would not happen millions of years ago, he says.